Verse 46

⁴⁶One day all of them, meaning to water their own herds of calves, went down to the edge of a pool, and having watered them they drank the water themselves. ⁴⁷There the boys saw a great creature standing, and they were afraid: it was like the peak of a hill split off by a thunderbolt and fallen. ⁴⁸This was the great demon named Baka, wearing the shape of a crane. He came upon them all at once and, strong and sharp of beak, he swallowed Krsna. ⁴⁹Seeing Krsna swallowed by the great crane, the boys, Rama and the rest, went out of their senses, as the senses do when the breath has gone. ⁵⁰But the cowherd's son, the father of the teacher of the world, burned the root of the crane's palate like fire, and Baka threw him up at once unhurt, and in great rage came at him again to kill him with his beak.

⁵¹As it came at him the lord of the good caught Baka, Kamsa's friend, by the two halves of its beak with his hands, and while the boys looked on he tore it apart in play, like a stalk of grass, bringing joy to those who live in heaven. ⁵²Then those who live in the world of the gods covered the enemy of Baka with jasmine and other flowers out of Nandana, and praised him with kettledrums and conches and hymns; and the cowherds' sons saw it and were amazed. ⁵³Getting him back, released from the crane's mouth, the boys, Rama and the rest, like the band of senses getting the breath back, took him in their arms now that he stood among them again and were at ease. They brought the calves home, came into Vraja and sang of it.